How To: Master Tennis For Less Than $25

How To: Master Tennis For Less Than $25

For many years, tennis was an elite sport for the country-club set. However, since the suburban boom that began in the '50s, free public courts abound. With the recession causing many people to economize (gym memberships are often the first to go), tennis is emerging as a fun and relatively cheap way to exercise.

Let’s face it: You’re not going to make the Wimbledon finals without private coaching. However, for the naturally athletic — or fiercely determined — it’s possible to become a competent recreational player with minimal expense and no coaching. That is, if you follow AskMen.com's guide to mastering tennis for less than $25. To start, you’ll need two items: a $5 racket from the nearest thrift shop and a $3 can of balls from the sporting-goods store.

Step 1: YouTube - Your own personal (and free) tennis coach

We used to play tennis with a guy in his 50s who’d been chipping and slicing for 25 years. His play was so unorthodox, he could even serve underhand if the sun was in his eyes. The guy liked to boast that he’d never had a lesson in his life. “I don’t like someone telling me what to do,” he said stubbornly; “I’d rather figure it out for myself.”

Figuring out the meaning of life is something each individual must do for himself, but how to hit a proper forehand, volley and overhead — not to mention the serve, the most difficult skill in tennis — are techniques that are a lot easier if a pro shows you how to do them.

The guy was an excellent candidate for coaching via YouTube, where he could learn a lot without having his fragile ego injured by a real coach. Search YouTube for “tennis lessons” and you’ll find hundreds of results to sift through. Some of the videos are questionable (production quality gives them away pretty quickly), but others are extremely helpful: Expert Village has a series for tennis for beginners (shown below) as does FuzzyYellowBalls.com. A favorite is the four-part series on tactics by Nick Bolletieri, world-renowned coach of such champions as Andre Agassi and Jim Courier.

You can also search YouTube for lessons on specific tennis strokes such as serve, volley, forehand, lob, and drop shot. Since the info is free, there’s really no excuse — like a short, high-bouncing “sitter” just asking to be killed — for not taking full advantage of it.

Step 2: Learn the rating system to find new partners

The activities section of Craigslist is a great place to find new partners. However, you’ll quickly see that tennis players don’t simply consider themselves beginner, intermediate or advanced, but at very specific skill levels with most advertising themselves somewhere between a 2.0 and a 5.0. These numbers refer to guidelines set by the U.S. Tennis Association for tournament play.

There's one more tip on mastering tennis for less than $25 after the skip...